Black Friday: Gini Koch

Black Friday is here and we’re discussing the season with Gini Koch’s Kitty and Martini from Alien Proliferation.

After the wildest wedding ever, Katherine “Kitty” Katt-Martini and her Alpha Centaurion husband Jeff are hoping life will settle down. But alien attacks are on the increase, and someone is testing a dangerous new drug on unwilling subjects within their group. As if that’s not enough, Kitty and a number of the A-C women are expecting their first babies.

No one is certain what this baby boom will lead to, but after almost losing Kitty in childbirth, they discover that their newborn’s talents are off the charts — and potentially dangerous. And just to add to their worries — the bad guys want their baby.

The last thing anyone in Centaurion Division needs after that is a conspiracy to kill the heads of the C.I.A.’s Extra-Terrestrial Division and the Presidential Terrorism Control Unit, otherwise known as Charles Reynolds and Kitty’s mother, Angela Katt.

Then, suddenly, key members of Alpha and Airborne start vanishing.

Can Kitty, her remaining team members, friends old and new, and a totally unexpected new partner rescue everyone and figure out how and why Kitty’s become a superhuman? Most importantly, can they pull it all off before the event Kitty dreads most — her Alpha Centaurion baby shower?

Make sure you stick around to the end. We’ll be giving away a signed copy of Alien Tango. _____________________________________________

A Very Alien Christmas

Hi, I’m Katherine “Kitty” Katt-Martini, and I narrate the true life story of what it’s like to live and work with the most gorgeous people on Earth. Sure, they’re originally from the Alpha Centauri system, and they have two hearts and a lot of talents that are like superpowers to humans, but really, they’re just regular “folks”.

Our aliens, or A-Cs as they preferred to be called, don’t really celebrate Christmas, since they were exiled here because of their religion. I’m the product of a former Catholic (and former Mossad — don’t ask) mother and Jewish father, and we don’t really celebrate the December holidays all that much, either.

However, in the spirit of this Black Friday extravaganza, and because I’m all about the good deals, I’m going to give it a shot and do some holiday shopping under the banner of “hey, it’s nice to get a gift, regardless of the time of year”.

Martini: You’re not going shopping without me.

Kitty: Well, I wasn’t really going shopping, Jeff. I was going to fake it for the article.

Martini: That’s lying.

Kitty: Yes. I’m a human. I’m capable of lying.

Martini: Great. I think you shouldn’t lie to me and we should go shopping.

Kitty: I don’t lie to you. Well, not much and not often and not about anything really big. But why do you want to go shopping? You don’t celebrate any of these holidays.

Martini: Our baby is going to be half human. I think that means we should celebrate the holidays from both sides.

Kitty: Shopping isn’t a holiday tradition.

Martini: From all the ads I’ve seen, catalogs delivered, packed malls, and so on, I’d say it’s the biggest part of the holidays.

Kitty: Point taken. But my family doesn’t do much for the December holidays.

Martini: Other families do.

Kitty: Fine. I see I’m going to lose this argument. Fine, Jeff. You want the full holiday shopping experience? Let’s go.

Martini: Great! I’ll calibrate a gate.

Kitty: Not that going through what looks like an airport security metal detector that also makes me sick to my stomach isn’t all part of the Holiday Thrill, but if you want the full experience, we have to drive. And desperately attempt to find parking at a packed mall. And then shove the car into a spot it’s too big for, after we’ve driven around trying to find a parking spot for at least an hour.

Martini: Huh. You know I can’t drive, and you know you shouldn’t right now.

Kitty: True enough. We’ll bring a driver who can, therefore, also help carry the packages.

Martini: James and Tim are busy.

Kitty: No worries. We’ll take my dad. That’ll add some real fun to the festivities.

Martini: I love your father. Why would him coming along be a bad thing?

Kitty: Who do you think I get my “we don’t celebrate because these holidays are just made up to sell merchandise” mindset from?

Martini: Oh. Ah. Huh.

Kitty: We could ask Chuckie to drive us instead. Or my mom.

Martini: Not just no but hell no on Reynolds, and your mother, like Reynolds, James and Tim, is working.

Kitty: My dad’s free.

Martini: How about a regular human agent?

Kitty: How about my dad or we don’t go?

Martini: Well…if we don’t go, how will we experience the true joys of the holiday season by getting something no one wants at half price?

Kitty: I see you’ve learned a lot from watching TV ads. We can always shop online.

Martini: It’s not the same.

Kitty: True enough. How about this? I’ll invite everyone we know over. We can all shove into one room together. Then, I’ll toss up some sweater I don’t like and scream, “It’s the last one and it’s on sale for 95% off!” And we’ll watch what happens.

Martini: I’m not sure —

Kitty: I’ll order up some hot cider, hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, and Christmas cookies from the commissary, pull out an old dreidel and some chocolate “gold coins”, put my Holiday Music Mix on and turn the volume up to eleven during the “event”.

Martini: You have the Bing Crosby Christmas album?

Kitty: Of course. I have everything.

Martini: I agree — you do have everything. Okay, we’ll do it your way, baby. Like always.

Kitty: I knew I married a smart alien.

Martini: And I married the smartest girl in the galaxy.

Kitty: Aww. Before we get too mushy, let’s get der Bingle rolling with “Sleigh Ride” while I choose a sweater I hate and you call the gang in for The Great Christmas Shopping Reenactment. Happy holidays to all and to all a low credit balance! ______________________

Meet Gini Koch!

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books and the Martian Alliance Chronicles series for Musa Publishing. She also writes under a variety of pen names (including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch), listens to rock music 24/7, and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). She also speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She can be reached through her website at www.ginikoch.com.

The Royal Scam at Amazon _____________________________________________

Contest Time!

Thank you Gini for taking part in Literary Escapism’s Black Friday!

Contest Time! Gini is giving away a signed copy of Alien Tango. To enter, all you have to do is answer this one question: How would you reinvent the shopping madness that occurs during this time? Remember, you must answer the question in order to be entered.

Even though I’m not giving the additional entries any more, you can still help support the author by sharing their article, and this contest, on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere you can. After all, the more people who are aware of this fabulous author ensures we get more fabulous stories.

The winner must post a review of the novel someplace. Whether it is on their own blog, Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing or wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just help get the word out.

All Black Friday contests will remain open until December 31st at which time I’ll determine the winner with help from the snazzy new plug-in I have. Have you checked out the other Black Friday contests yet? Check out the Master List to see all the Black Friday giveaways

I have not been contacting winners, so you will need to check back to see if you’ve won.

Share the Love:

Like this:

I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

I would offer 10% off coupons to neighborhoods around malls for 2 days so each area has 2 days to show up for extra 10%! That way you spread out the shopping deals around and dont get flooded with people. Stores would always be busy but not overwhelmed and the customers get to plan what they want ahead of time for the 2 days they get to shop with the 10% discount.

I would love to close the shopping centre down for a day so that only me & my friends & family would be allowed in there. That way we could get all our shopping done without having to fight the crowds & we wouldn’t have any problem parking. That would be so nice lol

Bing Crosby Christmas FTW :) I swear I have all her music. Random much?

And no, I’m probably not qualifying myself for this. I don’t go out on Black Friday anymore. Not even to drive, shop for food, go to the emergency room… So I have no answer for this problem.

I just miss the sales and find comfort in the fact that the crowds didn’t drive me insane. Been there, done that. Cyber Monday is perfectly fine by me. All the ‘brave’ (read insane) souls can have their sales. I can live spending the extra 50%, thank you very much! (Also, I like my sleep and enjoy not sleeping in a tent in the cold, snowy, icy, miserable weather. I leave that for power outages!)

Thanks for the Kitty/Martini extras! I love them and love reading the shorts.

Generally speaking, I love to Christmas shop. I am also one of those throwbacks, that hates to shop on line. I think the one thing that usually bothers me, is when a store runs out or never had something that was advertised. I would say, make sure that if it is in the ad that they have PLENTY available, especially at Christmas. Love Gini’s books. Thanks for the giveaway!

I would make the parking ots bigger. I’d turn Black Friday into a weeklong shopping extravaganza so that people would have more time to get what they want and there would be plenty of inventory available. I’d also make a rule that anyone being rude or pushy would be banned. Thanks for the giveaway! Happy Holidays!

Umm, I’m not really sure how to answer this because I’ve never actually experienced a black friday shopping thing, because it just doen’t happen where I live. So I’d atleast want to keep everything the same to let me try it once, then maybe I don’t know, invent hover boards so everyone can zoom by instead of having to walk/drive. Thanks!